SIBU: The Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) has called on the state government to assist Sarawak schools in need of more funding for infrastructure improvements.
STU president Jisin Nyud said there is a presumption that the federal government’s allocation is sufficient when in fact it is not.
“From the 1,542 schools in the state, 36 per cent of secondary schools are in town; 58 per cent in rural areas and 6 per cent in the interior.
“As for primary schools – 14 per cent in town areas; 51 per cent in rural and 35 per cent in the interior,” Jisin told reporters yesterday after officiating at the STU Sibu union representative seminar 2015.
He pointed out that some of the schools required a lot of repairs.
“If you look at the National Education Blueprint, in fact, by 2013, all basic repairs should have been completed but until today, the end of the implementation of Wave 1, many are not repaired.
“That’s why we need a super catch-up plan. If the federal government can’t, the state government needs to chip in. That is what STU wants.
“We hope that the state government can set aside allocations for schools in Sarawak. I believe that most of the schools in rural areas require a lot of funds to upgrade (their infrastructure),” he said.
He added that STU is happy to note that the state government has always supported the union and hoped to work closer with the state.
Jisin praised the government’s handing over of development funds for Mission and Chinese schools to the school boards as it provided freedom for the schools to utilise the funds.
“So, if the government can do that also that will be good. I remember one time the government gave one-off (allocations) to schools.
“That is what we want – if the one-off is RM100,000 or RM200,000 I think the schools will know what to do.”
In his speech, Jisin also called for more locals to be trained as teachers to serve in the state as they understand the local culture and environment better.